Those still haunting Brussels blues

Don't worry, you'll be off the hook soon. I promise: this is the last reaction from Brussels. And yes, I managed to find my carbonnade, and Belgian beer is still excellent, so there are still things that are right with the world. But, still ...

Just missing the motivation boat is not the only blunder that "the industry" has allowed itself. There was the constant drone at the conference that not enough women were getting into the industry. One large, international telecommunications company gave us samples of one of their latest marketing gags: nail polish; one a light green (Mint) and one deep magenta (an important color for the company). (I need to add here, that MINT is the German form of STEM, not everything translates perhaps as well as we would like.). I have a bottle of each on my desk right now. I'm still marveling at them. This is how you attract young girls to become interested in getting into telecommunications, I suppose. I'm glad to see that in our emancipated world today, old stereotypes have been eliminated so completely. It just goes to show you, though, just how out of touch organizations can be.

It amazes me how out of touch most organizations are. I'm not picking on any one in particular; the one just mentioned is merely an example. The young are not, at least as far as those at the conference were concerned, all that motivated by glitter, glamor or even so-called prestige. Another young participant stated quite clearly in the plenum that the companies up front talking the loudest and making the biggest pledges were simply not offering him the opportunity to follow his technologically relevant bliss, the were more of a hinderance than a help. This is in harmony with the notions I mentioned last time. What is driving the young technologically savvy these days is being able to do one's own thing together with others while remaining true to what is good and right and that benefits others (that's the real "Hacker Ethic"), and that is, I'm afraid we all realize, antithetical to the maximization-of-profit ideal that so many -- particularly these large, globally active, mostly American corporations.

It is quite the dilemma, I will admit. Most people, the vast majority of people, inside or outside this industry, here in the West, work for companies that are small or tiny. Too often, they are simply looking to survive while the really big players are wallowing in their wealth. This means that what's making the world go round is not their riches, it's the blood, sweat and tears of the little guys. But it is there that the ideals that seem to resonate with the young people seem to be.

You can make it about technology, and you can make it about growth, and you can make it about money, but that doesn't make it real. If you want to attract youth to the the hard, tough, demanding world of STEM, don't try to make it fun or attractive or lucrative. Make it worthwhile. Go ahead. I dare you.